Thanks to @indayclara for letting me know it would be a good idea to do an intro post..
My interest in health and fitness began sometime in the late 90's when my fat ass bust out through my trousers for the final time. It wasn't the first time, but as i fought back the tears of embarrassment and shame, i vowed that this. will. never. EVER. happen. again!
There was anger there too; anger at the cruelty of the people laughing at my embarrassment, but mostly anger at myself for letting things go so far that i couldn't even step onto a bus without splitting my pants. I had been unhappy with my size for years, but hadn't really done anything about it; Sure i had made some half hearted attempts to lose some weight, but when I didn't see amazing results in a couple of weeks, I would be back to my old ways of eating too much and sitting too much.
As i made my way to the seat on the bus that day, red faced and ashamed, something inside me shifted; the excess weight was going, whatever it took.
It took about a year. No fads. No scammy supplements or pills to 'make fat disappear like "magic"'. There was no 'this one trick' to melt fat. I did the work; I learned how to cook a few different wholesome meals and made everything from scratch with whole foods. I made sure to do some kind of purposeful exercise at least 6 days every week. _I did what i could, _and as my fitness improved over time, i could do more. _I used what i had,_ milk jugs were my weight training equipment, and the field behind the house became my running track. And when i say running, i use the term very loosely, because back then i was unable to "run" more than a handful of steps before getting pain in my knees and triggering a bout of exercise induced asthma. That was a shocker; I had become so unfit and overweight, when i tried to exercise my body reacted like it was a threat to my survival.
Our bodies are amazing things though, and they adapt to become better at the things we do on a regular basis. Because i was exercising regularly, my body adapted to make exercise easier. And when it felt easier, i did a little more, or pushed myself a little harder.
Over the course of that year, my trouser went from 40" to 32" waist size, and i got rid of a lot of unhealthy fat. I didn't get 6-pack abs, and i wasn't all 'ripped' like you see in the ads for weightloss products, but that had never been my goal. My goal was to be happy with who i was, and to not have my size limit me in trying new things, and damn i have achieved so much more in that regard than i could ever have even dreamed of back then. But those are stories for other days.
My parting words for this intro..
Remember the bus? By the end of the year, each friday morning i would go to the bus stop and chat with the regulars until the bus arrived, then i would get on my bike and race the bus over the 13 mile journey. I wasn't always faster than the bus, but was faster often enough.